First Term

Since we are so far behind with this blog and time is running out, I have decided to lump a few things together in a single entry. The first term of school winds down on Friday. The students and teachers have a two week break before heading into term two. Each term is from 9 to 11 weeks long with two weeks holiday in between, except for at the end of the school year (which is christmas time here) there is a six week summer holiday. Aiden is not going to know what hit him next year when he no longer gets two summer holidays and many days off to go gallivanting around the countryside. I'm sure he'll adjust.


The start of this school year was Feb. 2nd and with that some changes at the school. The student enrollment was high enough to allow for extra teaching time so the classes were divided into three groups instead of two. Aiden is in the Prep/Grade 1 class, while the other classes are Grade 2/3 and Grades 4/5/6. With the different class splits, Aiden no longer has Frau Stoffel as a teacher but has Miss Miller. He has been quite happy in school this term and enjoying the various things he has been learning about. He was a little sad with not being in the same class as his best buddy, Joseph but has adjusted as there are a number of times when the grade 2's are with Aiden's class. And from time to time he misses Frau Stoffel but gets to have her teach him once in a while as well.


With the start of school again came cricket and swimming. The cricket season goes until the end of February so Aiden had about 4 weeks of cricket. Thursday after school it was off to the cricket grounds to learn how to bowl, bat and catch. He is becoming an all rounder. I wonder how these skills will transfer to baseball.

During the first two weeks of school the entire school along with the kids from Pomonal primary, participate in swim lessons. The first day is assessment day where students are then divided into six groups according to ability. The three higher levels have their lessons first followed by the lower levels. There is one qualified swim instructor and two teachers in the water with the groups and the teachers rotate groups every 15 minutes so each group will see each teacher once per lesson. The system works very well and is very cost efficient for the school. The parents are not required to pay any extra fees.


A week before the lessons started, it did not look good for Aiden making much progress as he still would not put his head in the water and cringed every time he was splashed. A small miracle happened the weekend of Jan. 30th. Aiden decided that it was 'cool' to put his head in the water and now has no calms about it. It was just like turning on a switch. One minute it was an impossible task the next – nothing to it. Will wonders never cease! So Aiden has become a fish in water. He made great progress in his lessons at school, becoming more confident in the water, learning to float on his front and back and even being able to swim 5 – 10m albeit with no style or form. Through out February every hot or even warm day found us down at the swimming pool.

On Feb. 20 Sean and I, along with a number of other parents were down at the pool to cheer on the kids during their swim carnival. The kids are divided up into two 2 houses: Zumstein (yellow) and McKenzie (blue). It is all in good hearted fun with a little bit of competition. The older kids are timed and selected for zone competition but for the younger ones it is all about the fun. There were noodle races, kick board races and piggy back races. Lots of yelling and cheering going on as those not in the current race cheered on their team mates. When the kids races were finished they had the parents join in on the fun by helping form a line from one end of the pool to the other. The ideas was to see how many times the team could pass a block of ice up and down the pool before it disappeared.

In March we heard about a gentleman in Stawell that gives lessons so we gave him a call and enrolled Aiden. Since we joined half way into the term and are leaving before second term, Mr. Patterson has been most accommodating and is giving Aiden lessons twice a week. It is a bit of a drive but I figure you can't beat 20 minutes one way compared to an hour back home. Aiden is doing extremely well. He has learned to tread water, survival back stroke and is in the process of learning how to properly do freestyle. I am amazed at his progress and Aiden is just loving it. It makes me wish we lived closer to a pool. You say ' What about the lake?' Aiden even gets cold with his wet suit on in an indoor pool that is at 26 degrees. Go figure!